Kangaroo Island, Wednesday 2/6/08

There are some days that simply can’t meet expectations. This wasn’t one of them. We were up early and ready to go when Peter came tap-tap-tapping on our door with piles of fresh fruit from the garden, juices, yogurt, cereal and bread he had baked while we were sleeping. The homemade fig and ginger jam was unbelievable. He got our paperwork done and booked our return on the 7:30pm ferry while we had breakfast. In the meantime, Malcolm was packing up the Land Cruiser for our day on the island, so we were all set to hit the road at 8:45am.

Peter walked us out while Malcolm got our luggage on board. As we took off, Malcolm gave us a map of KI so we could follow along during the day as well as a book of indigenous birds and another with local animals. He took us on a "shortcut" down a road that seemed washed out to us but we made it out the other side at Boudin Heritage Park. Malcolm is one of the few guides licensed to operate in this park and he considers it one of his secret weapons. This is our Wallaby stop and we see one as we move down the hill into the park. They are little Kangaroos, identical to our eyes except they are only about 2-3 feet tall. We keep walking and suddenly there is a Wallaby under every bush. There are females with joeys, single males and groups of all sorts. Malcolm hears a bird call he recognizes and we sneak down another hill and through a patch of trees and there is the Glossy Black Cockatoo, an endangered species of bird that mostly exists on this island. It is a big black parrot with a red tail and is similar to the more common Yellow-tail Black Cockatoo that we also see here. Malcolm says this is a bonus.

Our next stop is Seal Bay, but on the way we stop for an Echidna crossing the road in front of us. The Echidna seems to be a cross between a porcupine and armadillo with a little platypus thrown in. It is a member of the platypus family, has quills like the porcupine and has a sticky tongue for eating ants. Malcolm says this is a bonus. Malcolm is licensed at Seal Bay too, so we are able to walk down on the sand among the Australian sea lions. There are hundreds including dozens of pups. As the females go out fishing, the pups sort of wander around and check out every returning female to see if it is mom. While waiting, they also check out us and as the pups gather closer and closer to us, Malcolm has us back away so we don’t "interact." They are distant relatives of the dog and these little guys are indeed like puppies that want to play with us. Hard to resist. Malcolm has us pop into the information center and tells us to meet him at the car in ten minutes—it is time for a tea interval. When we get to the car there is a tablecloth on the tailgate with French-pressed coffees for us and a basket of homemade biscuits (cookies). Mary likes roughing it.

We’re off to a private Koala reserve. The property is a converted farm that happened to have a good number of eucalyptus trees so Koalas were introduced here. They liked it so much they multiplied like crazy and ate all of the trees. Unintended consequences. They have now planted more trees and figured out how to manage the population, so life is back in balance. Our first sighting is not a Koala but a pair of bright blue and red parrots, Crimson Rosellas, that take off right in front of us. Malcolm says this is a bonus. We spend about 45 minutes wandering among the trees and Malcolm finds several Koalas, John finds two and Mary finds none. Most are fairly high up and they are all sleeping. We do find one that is fairly close to the ground and when we duck under the low hanging branches, we are within a couple feet of him. He is so nervous, we think we hear snoring.

We have a drive to Flinders Chase National Park (the island is 100 miles long by 30 miles wide) where Malcolm drops us at the interpretive center while he prepares lunch. As we walk up a wooded path to the building Mary points up in the tree above us - she has found her first Koala. When we find Malcolm in the picnic area, the table is covered with a tablecloth, there are cloth napkins and he asks "white or red?" Lunch is a great green salad, potato salad, another loaf of fresh bread, chicken, ham, corned beef, salami, mustards and homemade tomato jam and, of course, the fruit and cheese tray with crackers and biscuits for "afters." We opt for the white wine with lunch and, of course, everything is perfect.

Malcolm gets everything packed back up and we travel about 10 minutes to the Remarkable Rocks which is a shoreline eruption of granite that bulges up forming its own peninsula. We hike out to the rocks and get the geology lesson, but you can see that Malcolm is looking down the road and is planning his next move in "tour bus avoidance". This is a game played by the private guides to enhance the experience of their guests. Next we have another 10 minute drive to Admiral's Arch and the fur seal colony. There was a fire in the park in early December wiping out about two-thirds of the foliage. You can already see new growth at ground level, and they expect a ten year recovery period. The arch is a hollow opening that reaches from one side of the peninsula almost to the other and forms a protected cove that the seals treat as their own private swimming pool. There are both New Zealand and Australian fur seals lolling about on the rocks and splashing in the water. It is very peaceful in the cove with waves crashing up against the perimeter rocks, the frollicking critters, the sun shining down on us with a little breeze blowing and the wine kicking in. We wonder why Malcolm didn't think to bring a hammock.

We fire back up and head for the Kangaroos. This is yet another "secret" place and Malcolm has to unlock a chained gate to get us on the property. The property is again a converted farm that the owner has placed at the disposal of the state for management purposes and, they in turn, allow certain guides access. We are the only ones here today and wander for an hour peeking under shrubs and around trees for "Roos". They are primarily nocturnal feeders and tend to stay in the shade during the day, and we stir up a dozen or more in our stroll around the fields and trees. Malcolm then whips out the cooler for cokes, juice, waters and, of course, biscuits.

We are heading back the length of the island now with just two more stops. The first is called "Little Sahara," a series of "sand" dunes that are really made up of pulverized sea shells from many centuries before and are now 3 kilometers inland. There are a bunch of young folks "snow-boarding" (really using snow boards) down the dunes. The second stop is Pennington Bay, one of the premier swimming beaches on the island and at the narrowest point of the island - just 2 km wide. It is 6:30pm as we drive past the farms along the road and we begin to see kangaroos join the sheep and cattle in the fields. We find a store to buy some stamps so we can mail some postcards at the Penneshaw post office and Malcolm drops us at the ferry just before 7:00. Boy, did he earn his money!

We check in and Mary takes a stroll down toward the beach to take a picture of a huge Australian pelican where she encounters a Wallaby that pops out of the shrubs at the penuguin colony (although the penguins are out at sea). It just won't end. The crossing is pretty smooth and we get to our car at 8:25 with about an hour drive ahead of us. It is almost dark now and as we head cross country we see dozens of "Roos "along the road and in the fields. It's just like driving at home in the fall with different shaped animals. We arrive in Victor Harbor, make a lucky find on the right road and get to our hotel about 9:15. Their restaurant has closed but Matt, the manager, offers to grab some stuff for us from the kitchen. He throws together a pile of pita wedges, sauces, meats, cheeses, fruit, calamari, some greek grape leaf things, olives, garlic bread and meatballs which we nibble on until almost 11:00. As Mary said, "what a day!"

Today's local headline: Clinton, Obama deadlocked The Australian (The front page, not the "World" page)

Adelaide to KI Tuesday 2/5/08

Some hot coffee and cold breakfast gets us up and rolling this morning. Our hotel, The Richmond, has us on a package that includes continental breakfast in the restaurant which also happens to be the only place with wi-fi. It gives us an opportunity to nibble while checking the rest of the world. The front desk guy gives us a 10 minute parking pass to use the loading zone near an entrance to the mall and we head out to find the Hertz office which he described as "real close." It turns out to be about a half hour hike that seems longer because we are never sure we are going in the right direction. The Hertz lady gives us the sneaky route back to the loading zone and we're off on the next adventure. Almost.

It is a typical warm morning in Adelaide and the air conditioning in the car doesn't work. The passenger who invisions a 10-minute delay says it is no problem; we just take it back and either get it fixed or get another car, while the driver, envisioning a three hour fiasco, says there are places we have to be and there is no time for this. It is heating up rapidly now. We find the loading zone, hustle across the mall for our luggage, and that all actually works. We can't go back to Hertz the way we came but we do manage to find an alternate route and pull into the Hertz return bay and brace for the bad news. Our passenger beats the driver into the door and makes eye contact with Debbie, our original agent. They whisper a bit and head out to the car while the driver is inside rolling his eyes saying, "oh jeez, here we go." Debbie hops in the car, starts it up and presses the cleverly disguised A/C button on the dash and the car begins to cool down the entire garage. The passenger and Debbie shake hands with a "well done mate," and the driver gets in and says, "you got the map?"

We leave Adelaide the same way we did the day before, heading south along the coast. We are in the bottom center of the Island/Country/Continent and the land to the north turns back to the west and runs along for another 1500 miles. The route we follow heads south for another couple hundred miles and then turns to the east for 1500 miles to Sydney before curving north to Queensland. Our plan for the day is to drive two hours to Cape Jervis, check in for the 3:00 PM ferry to Kangaroo Island, and then wander around town for a while grabbing lunch along the way. At the ferry office we ask about lunch and the lady tells us the best place is the general store which is attached to the tavern. We see houses to our right as we leave the ferry and assume town is that way but don't see the main road in. We pass a tavern on the highway with a gas station and convenience store but still no way into town. We have obviously missed it so make a u-turn and find a little side street that seems to go the right way but still no business district. After looping around we are back out to the highway and see a sign on the convenience store that says "Cape Jervis General Store." We are downtown.

We get a fish and chips for two wrapped in a square yard of butcher paper with a diet coke on the side. The day has turned chilly, cloudy and windy so we sit in the general store, eat our lunch and read the paper until almost two. We get organized with our luggage, secure the car, get back to the dock and get on board at 2:30. Kangaroo Island is a 45-minute sail from the mainland and is well known for a lack of population and an abundance of native wildlife. There are a couple little towns on the 2500 square mile island that house most of the 4100 island residents, and there are 1000 miles of road to get you to the wildlife protection areas that make up a third of the island. It is a choppy crossing and we are happy to see one of our hosts, Malcolm, waiting for us at the dock.

Malcolm Kleemann and Peter Walker have a 6-acre property, The Lookout, overlooking the passage back to the mainland a few miles out of Penneshaw where we landed. Malcolm had been a guide on the island for many years and at the encouragement of his tour company employer, he and Peter opened a little B&B nine years ago. Since then, the tour company was bought out and the new folks built their own motel in Penneshaw leaving behind the relationship with P&M. The guys went out and bought the big Toyota Landcruiser and started offering private tours coupled with meals and lodging at the Lookout. The lodging is a spectacular low-to-the-ground apartment overlooking the strait and an acre of unbelievable gardens surrounding the house. Peter handles the cooking, gardening and paperwork, while Malcolm is the driver, nature expert and tour guide. Malcolm gets us settled in to our gorgeous suite of rooms (2-bedrooms, bath and a half, living/dining/kitchen and patio) a little after 4:00 and we take an hour hike on the nearby roads and back around the gardens. We meet Peter in the garden and chat about their adventure for a while. He tells us that they will be serving dinner in out suite at about 7:30.

Malcolm marches in at 7:15 to set the table and take a wine order and returns at 7:30 promptly with some warm rolls, a bottle of Aussie red wine and an appetizer of warm shrimp on wild and basmati rice. The dishes are whisked away and our main of stuffed chicken with steamed veggies and roasted potatoes appears with Peter. About 25 minutes later Peter returns to tidy up and bring our ice cream on warm crepes stuffed with peaches he picked that afternoon from the garden, along with tea or coffee. We should say that this level of service, this type of property, and the luxury of private wildlife touring is not something that normally fits into our budget. Everything on Kangaroo island is pricy and when we compared the usual busload type of tour and motel stay with this experience, the price difference was certainly minimal. Good for these guys, and really good for us.

Peter tells us he will see us at 8:00 AM for brekkie and Malcolm will be ready for touring at 8:45. Peter will also confirm our 7:30 ferry booking for the evening return. All is right with the world and nobody cares about car air conditioning.

Note: For a better view of the pictures give them a click and they will expand to full screen.

Today's local headline: 1000 jobs threatened as car plant faces closure The Australian (Mitsubishi will announce today that they will closed the Adelaide plant)